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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin

@bethsawin.bsky.social
29K followers 1.6K following 4.3K posts

Director Multisolving Institute. She/her. Systems thinking, climate justice, and multisolving, with a sprinkle of gardens and the odd puns. @bethsawin on X

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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 14h
Anything that exists is possible. I've seen food grown in a way that enhances the life of the soil. Men who nurture. Neighbors who protect neighbors. People who share.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 15h
I've been mowing around these beauties, leaving them for the bees (and for us).
Purple asters in the foreground, pasture and a reddening patch of sumac behind them.
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Sip Coffee, Build for Change @sipgoodcoffee.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
To add to this: Build green, resilience, community, change & power. We're building walls made of Virginia hemp & Southwest US lime. There are fewer than 5 commercial hempcrete projects in the US. We are shifting that -- an act of resistance against industrial foam & fiberglass & for resilience
A vertical photo of a second story interior commercial wall. There are exposed oak 2x4s in between compressed hempcrete insulation. The hempcrete is striated from where it's cast in place about one foot at a time vertically. Two black totes filled with a fresh batch of hempcrete sit in a window opening. The brick wall of the building and green foliage from a tree can be seen through the same wndow opening.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Some good things to work on this week as collapses and power grabs surround and the operating instructions of the industrial growth domination and supremacy worldview are further revealed and clarified (remember apocalypse means "uncovering")
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Ian Coldwater 🧊🚫 @lookitup.baby · 24/09/2026
if you quit corporate to become a beekeeper, does that mean you broke out in hives
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
What would there be more of at Climate Week if it was embodying the ways of thinking and being that you believe to be essential for a just and sustainable future? What would there be less of?
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Maybe we are supposed to be thinking about devious strategies by which AI systems could communicate with each other across air gaps to plot our demise so that we don't think about..
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
You can't get to the future you want if you can't let go of the people and projects that are not aligned with that future. (Reminder to self that might be helpful to someone else today too.)
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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A French man being impossibly French. You have to imagine the very stereotypically French songs he is playing. (Paris, July 2026) #photography #StreetPhotography #Paris #Montmartre #BlueSkyPhotographers #Music #TravelPhotography
A man sitting on a folding stool wearing red pants, a black and white striped shirt with red collar or bandanna and a jaunty beret. He is playing the accordion and has a black cat with white feet and a red collar sitting on his accordion. What you can’t hear are the very stereotypically French songs he is playing.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A. Can people not remember the conversations they have in a day? (I could see this could be helpful assistance for some disabilities like short term memory loss, but beyond that?) B. When I invite people to tea it's gonna be like herbal or black & watch on or watch off? www.pcmag.com/opinions/sir...
pcmag.com
Apple's New Siri Recap Turns Every Apple Watch Into a Mass Surveillance Nightmare
Apple's always-listening AI feature promises neat summaries of your daily conversations, but it forces everyone around you into a nonconsensual recording experiment.
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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 01/09/2026
They're called birds.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Wendell Berry was along every step of my learning and finding my way. Too many favorite essays and poems for me to choose one. But today the Mad Farmer Liberation Front feels like a good one to share. allpoetry.com/poem/1262246...
allpoetry.com
Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Wendell Berry
Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. And you will have a window in your head. Not even your futu...
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
If our economies were oriented to quality and wellbeing over quantity and a version of efficient that externalizes life itself, then the fact that AI can appear to be more narrowly productive than humans wouldn't matter.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
What happens to water levels in Panama doesn't stay in Panama What happens to sea ice at the poles doesn't stay at the poles What happens to food yields at the equator doesn't stay at the equator What happens to flood risk at the coast... This is what it is to be a dependent part of a complex system
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Ethan Hein @ethanhein.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
There are other technologies for which this is true. Flying personally benefits me and lots of other professionals but has dire consequences for everybody. Same goes for golf courses (those don't benefit me personally though)
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I thing I notice in conversations about LLMs is that some people are arguing for how it is useful to them/their work while other people are thinking about the consequence of wide-spread adoption.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
This post excels
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
If human creativity weren't a threat to capital then capital wouldn't be threatening human creativity. If mutual care and cooperation weren't a threat to systems of domination, then systems of domination wouldn't be trying to undermine our relationships with each other.
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Faculti @faculti.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
How can a systems-based, justice-centered approach help societies solve multiple crises with the same set of actions? Elizabeth Sawin, Multisolving Institute, discusses here: faculti.net/multisolving...
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Question everyone who tells you something is inevitable.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
"And once it’s on, you can ask ChatGPT what you were working on before your last break, or where that proposal document went. It searches your recent activity and points you in the right direction. No more reconstructing your morning from memory."
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Now I know how "multisolving" looks in Welsh and it is looks very cool, and also possibly difficult 😂
A flyer for an online event in english and welsh. Multi-solving for climate action - a practical workshop for communities
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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I've been talking a lot about the disastrous recent loss of American institutional capacity regarding climate science. But today, I'd like to announce something we've been working on, quietly, in the meantime to offer a lifeline to some of those affected. [Thread]
First page of a 2-page flyer describing the Climate Science and Communications Fund. It shows a map of gift recipient locations, and also summarize statistics regarding the program thus far (including over $3 million disbursed to date), with testimonials from individual recipients.Second page of a 2-page flyer describing the Climate Science and Communications Fund. It further describes the need for and goals of the program. It also includes a point of contact email: roshan@climate-talent.org
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 13/08/2026
🔇 🔇 🔇 My book, Deep Unlearning, is now available for preorders! I don't know how people write so many books because this one took a lot out of me. It turns out, I had a lot to say 😂, with editors cutting out 50k of my words 🫣 ✴️ You can now preorder it at www.simonandschuster.com/books/Deep-U....
Cover of my new book, Deep Unlearning: The Rise of AI and The Radicalization of a Tech Idealist. 

There are two concentric circles in the book, the left being circuits in black an white, and the right being a bunch of dots with orange accents. The cover background is cream. And the words are written in black except for "Un" which is in orange.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Wondering....if AI is creating so many problems in education as students use AI and professors spend time figuring ways to block students using AI so they can learn themselves, perhaps what is being revealed is as much about assumptions in education as about AI.
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
THREAD: Ten Basic But Important Rules For Authors. 1. Never expect anyone to read your book, even if you sent it to them for free.
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Celeste Labedz @celestelabedz.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Someone good at art should make a cartoon of a colander experiencing the joy of finally going outside with their family to do their most special job that they've been looking forward to over a lifetime of simply straining pasta.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Last call - tomorrow at noon Eastern time - join us for a Multisolving Moment (an informal conversation amongst people working towards health and wholeness in complex systems facing converging crises). Theme: Seeds that Germinate in Crisis.
us06web.zoom.us
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Multisolving Moment: Seeds that Germinate in Crisis. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
In Multisolving Institute's Seeds for the Future Project, one theme that emerged is that, for people all over the world, crises are sometimes drawing forth increased courage, clarity, and creativity. Like some types of seeds that only germinate after experiencing fires, freezing, or other harsh conditions, new potentialities seem to be emerging from how people are responding to crisis. This Multisolving Moment will explore the interplay of crisis and response, danger and creativity. Please join us to learn from and support one another in these perilous times of great potential. Out of respect for attendees' privacy, Multisolving Moments, including this session, will not be recorded.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Man it stinks to see things you worked for years to warn about come to be. Nothing to do but keep going, but it hurts how much it didn't have to be this way.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
What time is it? It's crab apple jelly time of course.
looking upward towards blue sky to see MANY red and yellow colored small apples and lots of green foliageClose up photo of lots of small apples in a blue bucket
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Water has a way of remembering where it once flowed and taking back what's been built in its way so I wonder how resilient said $2 billion hyperscale data center will be to 2 or more degrees of warming.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Your Friday reminder: The world is a complex, interconnected, finite, ecological-social-psychological-economic system. We treat it as if it were not, as if it were divisible, separable, simple, and infinite. Our persistent, intractable global problems arise directly from this mismatch.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Local, organic, low-carbon, high-resilience potatoes coming up. With a dollop of pesto. It's August and the living is easy.
A solar oven. Inside is a baking dish full of red potatoes.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Lots written about the financial bubble of AI and the data centers that are its physical embodiment. And lots written about the impact of those data centers on water and climate.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Creativity, boldness, leaps forward - all of these can arise in response to crisis. On the other hand, too deep into crisis and there's no time or resources to innovate, it's all about surviving the moment. Meanwhile, in full security and ease there's not much pressure to change.
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Meade Krosby @meadekrosby.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I work at the intersection of the climate and biodiversity crises, so I especially value actions that support adaptation and mitigation AND conservation, e.g.,: Expanding urban tree canopy, green roofs, rain gardens, etc. to mitigate heat and flooding, sequester carbon, and provide habitat.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Join us Aug 12th at 12pm ET for the next Multisolving Moment. A free online gathering of people around the world responding to crisis by nurturing webs of relationship where we explore topics of mutual interest. This month's theme is "Seeds that Germinate in Crisis." us06web.zoom.us/meet...
A flyer for an event titled "Seeds that Germinate in Crisis"
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Top of my list is community solidarity and power building sufficient to direct equitable low carbon development and prevent climate gentrification.
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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 05/08/2026
Climate pals, what are your favorite examples of actions that simultaneously reduce climate pollution and help us adapt to climate changes that we can no longer avoid? Joint Adaptation and Mitigation (JAM), if you will.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
It's starting to look a lot like August!
A wooden counter top with a basket, knife, canning jar, and piles of squash, cucumbers peppers and scallions
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Emily L. Hauser (she/her) ❌👑 @emilylhauser.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Only liberation is a shared liberation.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Remember that a human has many intelligences, relational, somatic, emotional, energetic, intuitive, and linguistic. And even amongst the linguistic flavor there are so many ways to use words, including to capture the fruits of the other intelligences.
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Daniel Lerch @daniellerch.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Thanks for these thoughts. I've been noticing similar. AI dutifully summarized everything that was discussed & decided, but missed nuance, misunderstood what was actually important & unimportant, etc. Like having an extremely bright but overconfident & inexperienced undergrad as an intern.
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michellegrosser.bsky.social @michellegrosser.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Totally agree. I’m in the middle of a project where we are seeking alignment with a number of international participants. Teams AI summaries give the illusion of shared perspectives but we are going over and over same old ground. Bring back human wrap ups!
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Join us Aug 12th at 12pm ET for the next Multisolving Moment. A free online gathering of people around the world responding to crisis by nurturing webs of relationship where we explore topics of mutual interest. This month's theme is "Seeds that Germinate in Crisis." us06web.zoom.us/meet...
A flyer for an event titled "Seeds that Germinate in Crisis"
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Ursula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Quality over quantity. Meaning over noise. Life over capital. Just keep making the turns, little and big, day in and day out, that's how we rejoin a life-sustaining trajectory.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Lately I've been experiencing side-effects of the widespread use of "ai assistants" that I haven't heard talked about so much, and I'm curious if others have noticed it - maybe even the phenomenon has been studied or named.
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Dr. Elizabeth Sawin @bethsawin.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
When reality lands our societies will face a choice - to save everyone we can by doing the necessary work that will end the reign of ideas like "economic growth" and "national self-interest" and discover by doing what lies beyond them or to carry on as we are and loose so much more.
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